By Nico Ludwig-Stock and Bergen Greenley
NEW YORK CITY, NY – Mayor Eric Adams’ preliminary New York City budget for 2025 cuts homeless services, health and mental hygiene, social services and agencies that offer support to immigrants and promote community safety, but resources for law enforcement and corrections wrongfully remain “astronomical,” charges the Vera Institute of Justice.
Jullian Harris-Calvin, director of Vera’s Greater Justice New York Initiative issued a statement in response to the mayor’s preliminary budget, alleging, “This preliminary budget shows the Adams administration’s harmful reliance on law enforcement and incarceration, which tear communities apart, rather than investing in community-based solutions that proactively deliver safety.”
Harris-Calvin added the preliminary budget continues funding a failing system, in the face of New York City’s goal to transition to a more humane borough-based jail system with the legal mandate to close Rikers by 2027.
Harris-Calvin said there is a better way, noting, “Investing instead in preventative services, such as supportive housing, mental health treatment, and alternatives to incarceration, will help lower the jail population in preparation for Rikers’ closure while enhancing community safety and enabling all New Yorkers to flourish.”
The associate director of advocacy for the Vera Institute of Justice’s Advancing Universal Representation initiative, Shayna Kessler, stresses how integral immigrants are to New York City—socially, culturally, and economically.
“The city must meet the needs of immigrant New Yorkers, including both newcomers and longtime residents. In conjunction with state and federal support, city leaders must act swiftly to help immigrants gain employment, support their families, and contribute to their communities,” argues Kessler.
Kessler proposed, to make New York the best it can be, that “it is essential for the Adams administration and all levels of government to advance policy solutions and fund services that help New Yorkers in need.
“This includes increasing access to work authorization, building sustainable legal services infrastructure through investments in immigration legal services and by passing both the state Access to Representation Act and the federal Fairness to Freedom Act, and increasing support for other services that will promote our overall stability and prosperity.”
